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OnPolitics Today: Texas, we're so sorry

Jessica Estepa, USA TODAY
Published 6:34 p.m. MT Nov. 6, 2017

Texas State Troopers pick up flowers left for a memorial while investigators work at the scene of a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Nov. 6, 2017.(Photo: Larry W. Smith, epa-efe)

After the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history left 58 people dead and more than 500 other injured in Las Vegas one month ago, House Speaker Paul Ryan acknowledged that the “smartest, quickest fix” to address rapid fire devices is regulation. Lawmakers from both parties have proposed banning “bump stocks,” which accelerate a semi-automatic rifles rate of fire.

But in the face of the massacre in Sutherland Springs, President Trump says this “isn’t a gun situation.”

“The nation’s 45th president has upended yet another norm — in this case, the assumption that moving into the White House will have a sobering impact on a newly elected commander-in-chief,” Page writes. “Facing awesome responsibilities and the sudden responsibility for governing, a new president typically moves to moderate his rhetoric and reach out to old foes, at least for a while.”